Scientists agree that the key player in this scenario is the West Antarctic ice sheet, a Brazil-size mass of frozen water that is as much as 7000 feet thick.
科学家们一致认为，这一情境中的关键推手是南极西部的冰层，这是一块跟巴西（面积）差不多大小的冰原，厚达7000英尺。
Now, new evidence reveals that all or most of the Antarctic ice sheet collapsed at least once during the past 1.3 million years.
现在，新的证据显示，在过去130万年中，全部的南极冰盖或其中大部分至少都崩塌过一次。
As Herman Engleheart, a co-author from the California Institute of Technology says, "the West Antarctic ice sheet disappear once and can disappear again."
正如加州理工学院的赫尔曼·恩格尔哈特所说，“南极西部冰盖消失过一次，也可能再次消失。”
Unlike floating ice shelves which have little impact on sea level when they break up, the ice sheet is anchored to bedrock will blow the sea surface.
当浮动冰架破裂时，对海平面的影响很小；而与之不同的是，固定在基岩上的冰盖将会使海面炸毁。
Melt along the southern edge of Greenland's ice sheet is now moving up its northwest coast, a new study shows.
一项新的研究表明，格陵兰冰盖南部沿线的冰融如今正蔓延到它的西北海岸线。
Scientists believe the world's great ice sheets will not completely disappear for many more centuries, but the Greenland ice sheet is now shedding more ice than it is accumulating.
科学家们认为，这个世界大冰盖短期内都不会完全消失，然而，如今的格陵兰冰盖脱落的冰却比聚积的冰更多。
"The key difference between our model and previous models is that we include heat exchange between water flowing through the ice sheet and the ice," said Rajaram.
“我们的模型和以前模型之间主要的区别是，我们将流经冰盖的水和冰之间的热交换也考虑在内，”拉贾拉姆说。
The Greenland ice sheet has survived natural warmer periods in history, the last about 120, 000 years ago, although it was much smaller then than it is now.
格陵兰冰盖在历史上经历过多个自然温暖时期(最后一次是约120,000年以前)依然幸存，尽管那时它比现在小得多。
Placea sphere of nuclear waste in a stable ice sheet and it could melt its way down, the ice re-solidifying behind it.
将核废料球放入较为稳定的冰原，它们会随着周围冰的融化向下移动，身后的融冰则又再次凝固。
The southern tributary actually drains a larger portion of Greenland's central ice sheet, so a retreat there could lead to a more substantial ice discharge.
实际上南部支流外流了更多格陵兰岛中心冰原的水源，所以那边的冰川消退会导致更大规模的冰流量。
Our theory links an external climate-driven process, the melting of the ice sheet, and earthquakes.
我们的理论将外部气候驱动过程，冰盖融化与地震联系起来。
Westerners may shrug at the decline of traditional hunting but, in a sense, we all live on the Greenland ice sheet now.
西方人也许对传统捕猎的减少不以为然，但是，从某种意义上来说，我们现在也依靠格陵兰冰盖而活。
A massive iceberg juts from the stark expanse of an ice sheet as an orange moon looks on in the Bellingshausen Sea near Antarctica.
在简直广阔的冰层上一座高大的冰山耸出，恰好在南极洲别林斯高晋海上一轮橙月显现。
The scientists working in Greenland are keen to communicate their new, emerging understanding of the dynamics of the declining ice sheet to the wider world.
在格陵兰工作的科学家们急切地向更广大的世界传达自己对冰盖降低动态的新认识。
The unusual bacterium was found deep within a Greenland ice sheet and scientists believe it holds clues to how life might survive on other planets.
这不同寻常的细菌是在格陵兰冰原深处找到的，科学家们相信其中蕴含着生命如何在其它星球上生存的线索。
By 2100 they may surge by five times that, or even more if Greenland's ice sheet starts to collapse.
到2100年，如果格陵兰冰原开始融化，海平面会急剧上升，达到上世纪上升幅度的五倍甚至更多。
The strait’s status in turn affected ocean currents, which affected the rate of ice sheet melting during the last glacial period.
在上次冰河时代，白令海峡这种周期性的开闭，影响了洋流，进而影响冰盖融化的速度。
The melting of Greenland's ice sheet is accelerating, threatening an increasing rise in sea levels.
格陵兰岛冰层的融化速度正在加快，可能导致海平面加速上升。
The three glaciers that Hamilton and Stearns measured account for about a fifth of the discharge from the entire Greenland ice sheet.
汉密尔顿和斯蒂尔恩斯测量的三大冰川约占整个格陵兰冰盖流量的五分之一。
The world's largest ice sheet has started to melt along its coastal fringes, raising fears that global sea levels will rise faster than scientists expected.
世界上面积最大的冰盖开始沿海岸边缘逐渐消融，这令人们担心全球海平面的上升速度将快于科学家的预期。
Such a rise would bring a high risk of major extinctions, threats to food supplies and the near-total collapse of the huge Greenland ice sheet.
这种气温上升将带来大规模生物灭绝的危险，威胁到食物供给，并造成巨大的格林兰冰盖的整体倾覆。
But it did not destabilise the ice sheet or provide a new reason to worry about rising sea levels.
但这并没有导致大冰盖发生不稳定现象，也无法为海平面上升的担忧提供新的依据。
Majestic blue icebergs the size of small islands float outside its harbour; its ice fjord drains 7% of the area of the Greenland ice sheet.
体积堪比小型岛屿的蓝色壮丽冰山漂浮在该城海港外的水域；其冰层峡湾为格陵兰冰盖上7%的土地排水防涝。
The instrument's nervous system comprises 86 strands of light detectors, stretching down into the ice sheet like oversize strings of pearls.
站中那个由86根光探测器组成的神经系统像一串巨大的珍珠项链深入冰层。
As the ice flows towards the coast, grating on bedrock, crevasses and new fractures form in the upper 100 feet of the ice sheet.
随着冰向海岸流动，在基岩上冲出孔洞，在冰盖上部100英尺形成冰隙和新的裂缝。
"This study showing warming means we can't be complacent about thinking the West Antarctica ice sheet is invulnerable," Steig said.
“这项研究显示，气候变暖意味着我们不能自满，不能认为南极西部冰原不会遭到破坏而洋洋自得，”史代格说。
"This study showing warming means we can't be complacent about thinking the West Antarctica ice sheet is invulnerable," Steig said.
“这项研究显示，气候变暖意味着我们不能自满，不能认为南极西部冰原不会遭到破坏而洋洋自得，”史代格说。
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